Inferno 2
by mnduranduran
Summary: Brianna Rose's mysterious grandmother appears at her doorstep on the morning of her 15th birthday. She explains the death of Brianna's parents and the realms of the Afterworlders and the Underworlders, as well as the Ersatz Gateway.


Prologue: Inferno

It was late. So late it was early. Brianna's weary eyes traced the horizon. Spindle-like fingers in hues of soft pink and indigo stretched across the sky, reaching for the stars slowly fading from the night above. She flung her auburn hair over her shoulders nonchalantly, her empty expression surveying the sky. She hadn't been able to sleep last night. Maybe she was just paranoid. It _did_ explain it. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been so terrified of a shadow created by a simple sweater hanging from her closet door. Not to mention the new night light she'd personally purchased after the past few weeks of one sleepless night after another. She hadn't seen one as necessary until the possibilities of what actually lay beyond the darkness had become too overwhelming for her to stand. And to think it all began with a single letter from a grandmother she never knew existed. She immediately decided it couldn't get much more Harry Potter-esque than this. She thought maybe she was slowly coming to her wit's end. Her thoughts had been running in circles all night and she was no closer to a solution now than she had been almost ten hours before.

A brief pounding of the door brought Brianna out of her haze. She nearly leaped out of her skin, her heart thudding inconsistently with the fury of a hummingbird's wings. No one with any common sense at all should be up at this time of the morning. And then it happened again. BANG. BANG. BANG. Brianna peeled herself off of the sheets on her bed and plodded down the stairs. Twelve steps later, she stood face to face with the red brick house's front door hanging stiffly on its hinges. Brianna took in a deep breath and swung the front door wide open with such force that the next moment she was bewildered to find herself sprawled out on the cold wood floor. She grimaced at the throbbing in her wrist and glanced up, finding herself staring straight into the forlorn emerald eyes of an older woman who reminded her vaguely of herself. Odd. Certainly not who she'd expected to find awaiting her.

"Well. I wasn't expecting such a welcoming." She was peculiar, with a broad plum hat placed neatly over her aging hair, bringing out the mauve in her grey eyes. The stout woman looked down upon her granddaughter with disdain. Brianna couldn't wipe the look of complete and utter dismay off her face.

"I suppose you ought to be told who I am. And considering that neither of us wants you making a fool of yourself again, I'll simplify for you. I'm Anita Lynn Rose. And you must be Brianna. It's been many years, my dear, so I find it is excusable if you don't recall when we met. You were just a baby then."

Brianna regained her composure and stood up slowly. She had been prepared for a gunman, not this bitter woman standing before her. Her grandmother: author of the mysterious note that had kept her wracking her brain hour after hour for any answer that seemed even partially logical. Her mind was now flooded by a sense of desperation. She had wanted to know what was going on since she received that letter, and now its author had _also_ been hand delivered to her doorstep.

"Look, we may be family, but you're breaking all kinds of legal codes by showing up like this. This is _my_ house and it's five o'clock in the morning! Why are you here? How did you _get_ here?!" Buses didn't run this early and there were no cars parked along the barren street. Brianna couldn't remember the last time she'd been so irate. Certainly not since her sessions had ended. She retreated to the couch in the living room and sat down. Her grandmother bobbled along behind her.

"Let me begin with the beginning. And I'm going to be very blunt, here. You're fifteen now, it's time you learned. Where is it?"

Brianna didn't have to ask what she meant. She understood. She had thrown it under her bed after last night's upsetting case of paranoia. She headed upstairs, snatched the amulet with frustration, and ambled back down to the living room. As she handed the amulet to her grandmother, the older woman spoke again.

"Brianna, your parents died when you were barely five years old. You wouldn't remember, of course. You were too young. It was a horrendous accident. The police concurred that they had simply misplaced your parents' remains; however, _we_ knew the real truth: There were no remains to be found. Your parents had been murdered, yes, but their remains had simply vanished and that was the plain fact of the matter. These beings whom you live with now are not your parents. They never been, nor will they ever be. We trained them well, hoping they would prove to be a source of positive parental influence for you, considering your circumstances. Their microcomputers have done a magnificent job up to this point. Most Ersatz are unable to retain their original training for 15 years. Consider yourself lucky."

"Huh? Ersatz? Training? Put this in my terms. You're explaining it for _me._" She struggled to control her voice. Now was not the time for explosive conversation. She needed the facts.

"Ah, yes. Natural that you should wonder that. Ersatz are intelligent creatures, not exactly what you would call 'zombies', but fairly close. We send the remains of the original human being though the Ersatz Gateway, recreating their physical image. The microcomputer is then inserted into their mind, giving them the mental characteristics of the original being. The Gateway is vital to life on Erath. It is the Lifesource for our population, spitting out one Ersatz after another. We are known as The Afterworlders, seeing as our population is made of those who were once dead. We are most often able to retrieve the remains of any given human, but your parents were a rare case. The Underworlders snatched their remains from Earth before we ourselves were able and transformed them into their own kind. We have been unable to stop them so far. Any questions? No? Good."

Brianna's tongue seemed to fill her mouth and she couldn't form the right words. Anger was beginning to bubble furiously inside of her, threatening to explode like a toxic gas.

"Ah, the amulet. It's been…so long." The woman stroked the ruby with a white gloved finger, as if recalling memories from her meager childhood. "It was mine when I was your age. It's been passed down for generations since generations past. But your mother made a foolish mistake when choosing to marry your…father." She spat the word. The tone of disgust in her grandmother's voice sent a chill down Brianna's spine. "Your father was one of The Underworlders. We cannot consult with them, as she discovered the hard way. The amulet ended up in his hands, and due to the marriage contract, both were Exterminated. Her forbidden love was the turning point in this century-old war. This amulet is what has kept our family alive over the years of constant dueling with The Underworlders. The amulet rests in your hands now, Brianna. It has been left to you."

She couldn't contain herself. Her words came spewing out with little warning.

"NO. No, no. You've only sent me one letter since I've been alive. ONE MEASLY LETTER. I'd never heard from you until yesterday. You'd never bothered to tell me you even _existed _and now you think that you can just come in here and tell me that my mother was a 'traitor' and that somewhere in 'a galaxy far, far away' there's a planet named Erath with a gateway that can transform remains of the dead into human clones, and that this - this _amulet _is the whole reason we're alive? I'm a 15 year-old teenage girl with more damn issues than you could ever even dream of, and you honestly expect me to believe this _crap_?! No. Nonononono."

"I expected this. We're a great deal alike, as hard as this _'crap'_," she winced, "may be to understand. Your anger, this problem you have, there's a reason for it. There's a reason it's coming back even after all those counselors you've seen. Humans don't seem to understand how necessary anger is and try so many remedies to rid you of it. All of which soon fail, of course, for reasons unknown to them. However, we use this frustration of yours for our own good, which you must understand. You control this amulet, this ruby. Your anger is quick to ignite, much like a flame; thus explaining the jewel's necessity: to create the spark that ignites the fire which you will use to your will. You must choose which side you are fighting for - for good or for evil? I trust you to make the correct decision."

"You must keep this around your neck at all times. If it is released into the wrong hands, we will vanish much like your parents did. No trace of evidence that we ever lived on this earth will exist. This is why you never learned of the accident until now. All witnesses were supposed to have been Exterminated, but I had my means of escaping. I have but little time to prepare you for this journey, as The Underworlders are close behind. They have been expecting this day – your fifteenth birthday – for some time. It is the day that all of our previous rulers have been given the amulet. They know I have been here and will arrive shortly hereafter. We must leave. Bring nothing along." She picked herself up from the sofa, dusted her skirt off, and walked slowly to the door, Brianna in tow. Then she turned to face her granddaughter.

"You're going to do what no others have succeeded in doing. You're going to end the feud for good, Brianna Rose."

And then she walked down the street, motioned for Brianna to follow, and disappeared into the distance, as the sun was just beginning to peer out from behind the dark monstrosity of cloud forming along the horizon.

Brianna was left standing alone in the cold, open expanse of her lawn, her thin sweater serving as the only shield from the winter cold. It was her decision now. Good or evil. Afterworld or Underworld. The Afterworlders were waiting for her. Counting on her to save them. She couldn't believe how quickly it had all sunken in. She was oddly at peace with the news now. She understood her possible fate and knew what must be done. Her mind was made. She looked up to the darkening sky.

"I'm coming," she whispered. She sprinted after her grandmother and headed into the unknown.

All was still along the empty street, like the calm before a storm.

Marisa Duran

3502 Key West Dr.

972 – 412 – 3008

Youth – Short Works Essay


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